"The study proposes an intriguing hypothesis: The sand may have been chosen not for its appearance but for its place of origin. It is possible that sand from the Zagros was selected precisely because it was territory under the aegis of the Hurrian goddess Shawushka. By building the temple for Ishtar in Assur, the founders may have wanted to physically connect their goddess with the land of a similar and powerful deity, thus rooting the new cult in a regional tradition. This gesture could represent a conscious fusion of influences. The inhabitants of Assur, located at a key crossroads between the two areas [southern Mesopotamia and the Hurrian region], may have deliberately sought to combine both traditions when establishing the sanctuary and cult of their goddess, the text suggests."
(photo F. Mahmood, Wikimedia Commons)
